How the West Wasn't Fun - Western Conference Off Season Grades
While the Eastern Conference saw mostly minor shifting of assets, the Western Conference saw a consolidation of power by the haves and the dismantling of the have nots. If you're a fan of overpowering teams exploiting weak conference competition, this is the year for you. The West is starting to look more like the East.
Northwest
Denver Nuggets - Denver had a terrible season last year, falling off badly despite retaining their best assets in the previous offseason. A bit of luck and bad drafting by other teams (looking at you, Knicks and Kings) allowed the immensely talented Emmanuel Mudiay to fall all the way to Denver at 7. It was the steal of the draft, and immediately made Denver's best player, Ty Lawson, expendable. Unfortunately, two DUI's decimated Lawson's value and he provided nothing more than a conditional first roudner in return. Hard to see Denver doing better than Mike Malone's last team. The only certainty is that Wilson Chandler's new deal makes him immediate deadline trade bait. C-
Minnesota Timberwolves - The Wolves don't draw a lot of free agent attention. Good thing they had the number one pick in the draft. Karl Anthony-Towns is going to be a star, and teaming him with young guards Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins is going to improve over their 16 wins last year easily. B+
Portland Trailblazers - If not for retaining their best player in Damian Lillard, they'd have an F. You can't lose four starters in an offseason unless you were already preparing for a rebuild. Portland was not. Now, they might have the West's worst record. D--
Oklahoma City Thunder - I understand matching restricted players that you simply cannot replace due to salary cap implications. I also understand the need to retain players that you traded for. I can even buy that they're trying to sell Kevin Durant on buying in and don't want to look cheap. But Enes Kanter doesn't deserve $70 million. He'd probably be overpaid at half that. He's immediately the most overpaid player in the game. Matching that insane deal reeks of desperation, and is more symbolic of the Thunder's eminant demise than anything else. This is the kind of deal Cleveland made before Lebron left the first time. The lack of cap flexibility due to overpaid bad players is not going to keep your superstar in town. D
Utah Jazz - The Jazz did nothing this offseason. Seriously. They didn't make any big splashes, or panic because their rebuild is going slow. It's hard to say if it was the right move, considering their probably wasn't much they could do differently. C
Pacific
Golden State Warriors - The World Champs didn't have to do much to stay elite. They miraculously were able to get out from David Lee's contract and were able to retain Draymond Green. They had about as good an off season as you could have hoped for them. A
Los Angeles Clippers - This is where the fun begins. How insane was the DeAndre Jordan situation? The Clippers and Jordan have paved the way for huge union concessions during the next collective bargaining. And yet, given the elite nature of Jordan's game it's hard not to consider his retention anything but franchise saving. On top of keeping their big three intact, the Clippers then added Paul Pierce and and Josh Smith for a song and were able to swing a deal for the maligned Lance Stephenson. The only thing more incredible than the Clippers roster is that they're probably the third best team in the West. A+
Los Angeles Lakers - The Lakers struck out in free agency once again. Having the guts to take DeAngelo Russell and his elite passing skills in the draft had more to do with the plethera of big men on the market than anything. In the end, the Lakers settled for a Roy Hibbert trade that will make them more competitive in the short term while retaining cap for the future. It's the best they could have done after losing out on all the big names, but belies the reality of the situation. Nobody will come to LA so long as Kobe Bryant is still there. He acts like he's the best player on the planet while his body is completely broken down. Until he hangs them up, no star is going to choose LA. D+
Phoenix Suns - Phoenix struck out on LaMarcus Aldridge, and then spent their money in a desperation manuever on Tyson Chandler. I like Chandler, but he's older and a redundant piece when you consider the much younger Alex Len. Both he and Phoenix lose on this deal, with no playoffs in store. C-
Sacremento - it's as if the Kings just said "fuck it". Striking out in free agency was expected. But alienating your star and drafting a guy that is both a complete reach and redundant with your star's skill set is just maddening. They don't get an F. An F is too nice. Z-
Southwest
Dallas Mavericks - Poor Mark Cuban. Overnight Dallas went from the big winner of the offseason to the biggest loser, as man-child DeAndre Jordan not only went back on his verbal agreement to sign with Dallas, but outright refused to talk to Dallas after agreeing to terms with them. By the time Cuban realized what was happening, it was most likely too late, as child-man Jordan agreed with Dallas simply to get the attention of his teammates, who had a video game sit in to change his mind. No joke. I can't get enough of what a child DeAndre Jordan is. Watching him hunched over, signing that Clippers deal with his mother and Doc Rivers looking over him, making sure he follows through...Jordan immediately became the poster child for the case against allowing players without four years of college experience in the NBA. Obviously he is stunted and unable to make his own decisions. But I digress. This is about the Mavs, and the mess they're in because Jordan waited to go back on his deal after all other players were committed. The deal for Wesley Matthews is terrible, as players with torn achilles do not come back and play well. The upside is there, as Matthews was the best two-way guard in the NBA (apologies Jimmy Butler). But it's more likely that Matthews' regresses significantly in everything but his shooting. JJ Barea's deal is also bad. The Mavs did a good job finding deals when it didn't seem there were any more out there. Deron Williams getting picked up at $5 million a year is a really nice signing because most of the knocks on his game were due to his previous contract. He'll help them a lot. Matching up with Milwaukee for Zach Pachulia isn't pretty, but it fills a hole that the day before looked impossible to find an answer to. The Mavs would have had an A pre-Jordan, but they avoided the F. D
Houston Rockets - Houston went into the offseason with a bit of money to spend but no realistic way to add a great player without losing Howard or Harden. And then Ty Lawson went on to destroy his trade value with his second DUI this year. Houson pounced. Now, Houston is a big question mark. Already a member of the West elite, if Lawson can control himself this team is going to be special. It's a pretty significant if, but with no chance for this kind of jump in the offseason and Patrick Beverley's new deal representing a signficant backup if things don't work, it's hard not to see the Rockets as huge winners. A-
Memphis Grizzlies - Memphis is an old team, They retained their best player, Marc Gasol, on a max deal. Usually, paying a center into his thirties is a bad idea. But Memphis is built to make one or two more runs, so I don't hate this deal for them. In a few years when the cap is higher and Memphis is likely rebuilding, they'll have no problem moving Gasol. On top of that, they signed Brandan Wright to what's probably the biggest free agent bargain deal at $18 million over 3 years. The Grizzlies will be right there, at least for one more year. B
New Orleans Pelicans - The Pelicans were one of those teams with difficult decisions to make because of the cap. They had a bit of money if they wanted to test the market, or they could go over the cap by retaining their assets. Unfortunately, they settled for the latter. Congratulations to Omer Asik, New Orleans' new $60 million man. Ouch. That's a deal that's going to hurt their flexibility for years, especially in the smaller market. At least Anthony Davis signed his max extension. Whether or not new coach Alvin Gentry can help him turn the table is the biggest question - especially since the front office wasn't interested in helping the roster. C
San Antonio Spurs - I admit it, the southwest came last because I wanted to save the best offseason for last. Holy crap. As if the plethera of talent on the Spurs roster wasn't enough, they were also able to get the best free agent on the market that changed teams (from a Western rival to boot) in LaMarcus Aldridge. The gangs all coming back for one more run, but this is definitely going to give the Spurs new life even after Duncan and company ride off into the sunset. A+++
